In some communications networks, a network security system (NSS), e.g., a unified threat management (UTM) device or platform, may be available for Internet service provider (ISP) level content traffic filtering. For example, a UTM platform in a first network may monitor traffic and determine that some of the traffic is malicious and, in response, the UTM platform may initiate mitigation actions that cause the malicious traffic to be discarded before reaching end users.
While an NSS may detect and mitigate problems associated with malicious traffic, issues exist regarding communications between NSSs and relevant entities, e.g., routers and network operations nodes. For example, a network operator or a related node may know, using predefined configuration information, the capabilities of a local NSS, but may be unaware of network security capabilities of neighboring networks or nodes therein. As such, one network may be unable to verify that some received traffic can be trusted. Further, if a first network is unable to trust traffic from one or more nodes or networks, all traffic from those nodes or networks may be analyzed for threats by a local NSS in the first network, which can result in expensive, limited resources being inefficiently utilized and potentially wasted. Since many communications involve multiple nodes and/or networks, network security issues can be significantly reduced or alleviated by improving communications between NSSs and relevant entities.